Fishing catastrophies

[TheShortAnswer]

went out to my favorite spot in the FL Middle Grounds 120 mi out.........a 4 hr ride. gas $4 a gal then. the fish are on fire.....after only 15 minutes of mortal combat and excitement, my fishing buddy puts a grouper hook 1/2 inch past the barb into his hand between the thumb and index finger......buried deep into the meat and bone. he tries to be a tough guy and keep fishing but the adrenaline wears off. he drinks a few beers.....no help. we head back after only 30 min of fishing to go to the ER........a rare great day fishing but BAD day scenario.

[makosteve]

About 7 years or so ago. Montauk marine Basin Shark Tournament. Stopped just South of the pint to try to troll some live bluefish for bait. put a few in the boat and decided to get offshore. We pull in the lines and I throttle up to our "tournament speed" of 27 knots. It was bumper than I thought and after about a half mile the boat came off a wave and the "bottom fell out" of it on the other side. As I am backing down to a slower speed, I hear the crew yelling for me to stop. I pull all the way back in time to see my father stagger out of the cabin bleeding profusely and collapse on the deck.

He had gone forward (35' Custom Command Bridge Express - see right side of my sig) without letting me know and when the boat dropped off the wave he was in the cabin putting the rod up in the racks by the V-Berth, went airborne and landed with his nose against the edge of the V-Berth. I was horrified, and after a few minutes he seemed ok - conscious, etc. we said we were going in and he would not here of it - insisted he was fine. Everyone arguing back and forth - he was insisting he was fine and refused to go in, I started to take the boat in anyway - he would not hear of it - insisted he was ok. We packed his nose and checked him out thoroughly - no blown pupils, he seem ok - against my judgment we started heading back put.

day just kept getting sloppier and sloppier but the fishing was good. Dad just sat on a cooler and observed.

We released about 5 blue sharks that would not have been in the money, and then we had a nice mako on. almost dumped the reel on his initial run and made 5 jumps, the last one landing on the line and he was free. Oh well. we were about ready to start heading in, at a leisurely pace as it was an snotty 4-6 and Dad was not that comfortable. Deep line starts going like a bat out of hell. we start'em up and get on the fish. I clearly tell every one that it is "take'im or break'im time" as we had to fight the fish, land'im and run 21 miles in the Snot to make the weigh in time (about 2 1/2 hours a way).

well it was a hell o a fight and I maneuvered that boat on the fish like I never have before. spinning, backing, etc. we were taking em over the back every few minutes and I just through all the pumps to "ON" instead of auto - all the rods and and tackle just tossed into the cabin out of the way - coolers up righted and their content all over the cockpit. After about 1/2 hour and we are on the leader - and it a 400+ thresher!. Till then we had done just about everything perfect. Dad decided no on else on board can get the shot that he can with the gaff (for those of you who know my Dad, you know he can get a little excitable) and he tried to do it all. He was on the wrong side of the wire man (despite my shouting instructions from the bridge) instead of standing back and letting the wireman walk the fish up the side and then stepping forward. he was trying to reach back past the wireman and get to the fish. He got frustrated an yanked on the leader and pulled the hook right out of the fish - standing there with the gaff in one hand the leader and bare hook in the other. The exhausted fish is floating at the surface and just about backed up to him before he came alive and scooted out of sight - with a slap of his tail smacking the side of the boat.

Probably a good thing that we did not get him. would have been at least another 15 minutes to secure him and it would have been one wild ride in in those snotty seas - I doubt we would have been able to make it - but we probably would have tried as we were in all of the calcuttas and that was a 1st place fish for the tournament besides the fish would have been wort close to $100K!

Exciting day - and a good story, but it if I could live the rest on my life without that feeling of horror of seeing someone injured on my boat, it would be a good thing.

When we got in, his face was swollen and his shirt full of blood - My step-Mom took him to South Hampton hospital - broken nose, but thankfully that was all.

[twentynine]

Oh Jeeez okay I'll tell

Few years back, fishing out of my old carolina skiff.

Prepared the boat the previous evening loaded tackle ice chest and such. Plugged in my portable battery charger to make sure I had a full charge tr motor battery.

Woke up the next morning to find I had over slept, I jumped into my clothes grabbed a cup of coffee a fist full of cold pop tarts and headed for the truck. In my haste to leave I made an abrieviated pre-departure check. While running ropund back of the boat I cut it just right to wind up with one hell of a gash on my leg provided by the skeg of the OB. No matter I'm a fisherman little blood don't mean nuthin.

Jump into the truck crank her up and patiently let it warm up 10 seconds, jam it into gear and I'm off. One hour ten minutes later I'm at the landing.

Water is high, real high with wind still blowing it in. Never mind, as I walk around the truck I notice some wires dangling off the fropnt of the boat. Dang gone it, they just don't make good battery chargers anymore, seems like it should have been able to with stand more than 60 miles of draggin on the road. Never mind, I'm a man and I' gone fishin.

With little pause - get the boat ready for launch. Straps off, plug in, painter tied to the truck. Back her down, tap the brakes but she don't come off. Back a little more tap the brakes still nuthin. So I pull her back up the ramp check straps and back her down again. Tap the brakes nuthin, she won't come off. I back a little further down tap brakes, nuthin she's stuck. Kill the engine, set the parking brake. Untieing the painter I take the tag end with me as I climb into the back of the truck. Can't walk around with out getting my feet wet because of the high water. My idea is the boat just needs a little bit of a shove to get her to slide right off. I get to the tailgate and I can't quite reach the boat while standing in the bed. Looking down the trailer ball and coupler are under water- so I can't step there. So I get up on the top edge of the tailgate put my foot out to give the boat a little shove. I swear as God is my witness, the second my foot touched the boat it slid off that trailer like it was ice. It shot across the canal like the engine was runnin. I barely managed to rebalance myself on the top edge of the tailgate, but honestly I think the Wallenda family woul have been proud of my recovery. That is until I run out of slack on the bow rope. Dang boat jerked my butt right off that tailgate. I landed on my feet in chest deep water, with the boat continuing to drag me out. I got the line around a dock pilin, who cares if it was two foot below the deck. I still think it was a good save and so do the other 73 people who were no rolling in hysterics and applauding my performance.

Iget my wet arse out of the water along with wet shoes, wet cell phone, wet wallet,and get in the truck pull it and park it with out incident. Am I beginning to get bothered, well maybe a little but I'm gone fishin and IAM A MAN! Did notice on my way back to the boat that the laughter had died down a little bit, but they stll had some big smillin and finger pointin going on.

Fishing itself was pretty uneventful even if unproductive. Not one bite!

Back at the landing I get the boat loaded, tied down and ready for the road. Thank The Lord for small favors, cause they had a whole new group of people that lacked intertainment and with my wet drawers beginning to chafe me, I was in no mood. But it don't matter I'm a man and I been fishin.

Got home, figured as I didn't have fish to clean I'd make a special effort on boat clean up. Scrub brush soap bucket hose pipe and me get into the boat and I proceed to scrub that boat to a fare the well. Besides that cool fresh water rinse I gave my brain storage area felt good, sure put the fire out from the chaffing.

I finish with the boat scrub down throw the bucket brush soap and hose out of the boat. Walk down throw leg over the gunnel to place my foot on the finder so I can step out of the boat. It is amazing how slippery soap is, ain't it!

Soon as I put my wieght on the fender my foot just shot right out, like Wile E Copyote in a road runner toon. Seems as if I hung suspended for a second, long enough to realise this was going to hurt and it weren't goin to be pretty either. Down I came smashin my port and starboard rutting gear on the rolled edge of the boat. I made to grab something, anything but ended up with air as I fell face first into the gravel driveway.

I managed to get to my feet if not quite catch my breath, the blood from the cut on my head was not quite in my eye yet, so I figured once I got my brains back into normal position I'd be okay. However I did acknowledge to myself atleast that it may be time to call it a day.

I headed for the door, A/C and the blessed relief of an ice bag. Even if I didn't know or couldn't make up my mind which end to apply it to.

Two hours later my wife gets home from a stressful day of shoppin. Finds me dirty on the couch, ice bag held to one head. She looks me over tells me I left my boat in the drive and the hose runnin. Figuring I might get some sympathy or maybe a massage on my --- uh, never mind. I tell her my tale of woe. I thought I had touched her heart, until she winked her eye then told me to go turn off the hose, get the boat out the drive, because she had just had her nails done.

Oh well! I'm a man, and I love fishin!

[rchanner]

OK- I have another one:

This one isn't exactly a FISHING story, but we've all seen a monumental screw-up at the boat ramp, and I had one. My Dad had sailboats when I was growing up, so at one point in my life I HAD to have a sailboat. I bought a used Hunter 23, and spent months fixing it up. It was a thing of beauty. Maybe nicer than it was when it rolled off the assembly line. (indulge me here). The first time we took it out, we went to Corpus Christi, TX to launch in CC Bay. My best friend and I stepped the mast in record time and had her ready to go. I backed her down the ramp with my wife's brand new Tahoe until the back tires were right at the edge of the water, but she was still holding on to the trailer. My buddy was on the boat and I could tell that she wanted to come off of the trailer, so I got out of the Tahoe and gave her a push.

Everything kind of went into slow motion as the boat still held fast to the trailer but my Wife's brand new Tahoe began to slide in the algae under the back tires. In a state of panic, I lunged for the driver's seat of the Tahoe and planted my foot on the brake, but not before my wife's brand new Tahoe was submerged up to the base of the back seat in Corpus Christi Bay. I tried to put it in gear, but of course, it only spun. A kind soul who was watching the whole thing threw me a rope and we towed the Tahoe out of the water, but not before soaking the carpet in the passenger area and flooding the exhaust system (which really plays havoc with the oxygen sensor).

My buddy and I spent the rest of the evening hunting down an auto parts store to buy tools and removing the cargo area carpet, steam cleaning it at a carwash, and attempting to pump enough alcohol into my wife to head off the haranguing that deservedly came with my afternoon's poor judgment. Eventually she saw the humor in it, the exhaust system dried out and began to function normally, and the carpet dried out....we still have an occasional laugh about that more than 10 years later!

[TheShortAnswer]

Since Rich told 2 stories.....so will I.

we are having a really slow day offshore. my fishing buddy catches the biggest grouper he's ever caught in his life and is completely jazzed. as the Capt i decide to throw the beast in the kill box. 20 minutes later we decide that we are going to move to a different spot.

before the move, i pull his grouper out of the kill box to gut it before it goes into the cooler. i gut it with with no issues or movement from the fish. there is a great deal of blood and entrails on the fish so i decided to grab the fish by the eyeballs with one hand and by the exposed body cavity with the other hand, and dip the fish into the water to clean him up a bit. every thing is fine as i lift the fish out of the water. then as the fish is at eye level and about to dropped in the cooler.......he convulses in a mighty way and his tail slaps me in the face/eye like a punch from Mike Tyson. knocked my sunglasses off and gave me a black eye. and as you have already guessed.....the fish went overboard.

none of this witnessed by my buddy who subsequently asks "Where is my awesome fish, lets take a picture" you wouldn't want to be me at that moment.........."you did what?"

[hookemdano]

About 30+ years ago a buddy and I were fishing a large central Alabama lake in my 14' aluminum with a 5 hp Clinton air cooled engine. We're both big, so the boat was really slow. We are in the middle of the lake when a thunder storm comes up, and we head to a small island to ride it out. Things are not too bad, so I start casting a plastic worm around some standing timber. I get snagged on a tree, and since my budget at the time did not allow me to just break it off, I waded out to retreive it. When I'm approaching waist deep lightening strikes a tree in the water about twenty feet away. My legs buckle and I go down from the shock. When I recover I blaze a trail back to the island where my buddy is lying face down. We stay on land, close to the ground, until we are sure all threat of the storm is past. We then load up and head for home. Damn if the storm doesn't circle back over us and the sky starts booming again! I've got the Clinton wide open and buddy has the paddle helping out. After what seemed like an eternity (probably 10 minutes) we reach land. We have to stop on the way home for my friend to get some cigarets (he doesn't smoke, but his nerves were shot). I see him about every 7-8 years now, and it is always the first story remembered.

[Limbofish]

Already posted this before I saw this one...........

I'll only confess this embarrassing day here........What's my penance?

Here's the scenario..........triple wham-0........2 outriggers, 1 flat line (out of 2)......big Dolphin.

3 anglers, 3 fish.

Here's what happened:

1. My 20# Penn Int'l line was threaded improperly on the rollers..........1 jump, SNAP. 40# fish GONE.

2. I man the net for angler 2. TOO BIG for net. Angler 2 tries to gaff with 1 hand. Gaff goes in water. Angler 2 is pissed, jumps in water to retreive gaff (with cell phone in pocket), Rx sunglasses on face. Angler and cell phone get back on boat. LOST FISH #2 after trying to hoist it over gunwale with leader. (smoke fuming from ears!!!)

3. Angler #3 needs a gaff to bring in fish. Lost #3 fish at boat. I SUCK!!!

What's a man to do? I need to go back to fishing school!

The day was salvaged with 2 boated 20# fish and 1 tuna.

Can you pros please help with some gaffing tips, because I totally screwed my buds out of 2 nice fish.

[rchanner]

Already posted this before I saw this one...........

I'll only confess this embarrassing day here........What's my penance?

Here's the scenario..........triple wham-0........2 outriggers, 1 flat line (out of 2)......big Dolphin.

3 anglers, 3 fish.

Here's what happened:

1. My 20# Penn Int'l line was threaded improperly on the rollers..........1 jump, SNAP. 40# fish GONE.

2. I man the net for angler 2. TOO BIG for net. Angler 2 tries to gaff with 1 hand. Gaff goes in water. Angler 2 is pissed, jumps in water to retreive gaff (with cell phone in pocket), Rx sunglasses on face. Angler and cell phone get back on boat. LOST FISH #2 after trying to hoist it over gunwale with leader. (smoke fuming from ears!!!)

3. Angler #3 needs a gaff to bring in fish. Lost #3 fish at boat. I SUCK!!!

What's a man to do? I need to go back to fishing school!

The day was salvaged with 2 boated 20# fish and 1 tuna.

Can you pros please help with some gaffing tips, because I totally screwed my buds out of 2 nice fish.

Just takes practice....if you get good enough (like this guy) you don't even need a rod and reel.

[crash1371]

I got Coast Guard rescues or would you like to here about being a river guide story's

[rchanner]

I got Coast Guard rescues or would you like to here about being a river guide story's

Any stories will do!